1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle air conditioning system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioning system that includes a high pressure tube and a low pressure tube with at least a portion of each being formed unitarily as a dual conduit section with a shared side-by-side wall.
2. Background Information
A typical automobile air conditioner includes a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve or orifice tube, and an evaporator. The compressor compresses a cool vapor-phase refrigerant (e.g., Freon, R134a) to heat the same, resulting in a hot, high-pressure vapor-phase refrigerant. This hot vapor-phase refrigerant runs through a condenser, typically a coil that dissipates heat. The condenser condenses the hot vapor-phase refrigerant into liquid refrigerant. The liquid refrigerant is throttled through an expansion valve, which evaporates the refrigerant to a cold, low-pressure saturated liquid-vapor-phase refrigerant. This cold saturated liquid-vapor-phase refrigerant runs through the evaporator, typically a coil that absorbs heat from the air fed to the passenger compartment.
Larger vehicles require increased air conditioning capacity for proper cooling of the vehicle passenger compartment on hot summer days. One recent improvement to air conditioning systems in larger vehicles has been the introduction of a rear evaporator for cooling a rearward portion of the passenger compartment.
A slugging problem sometimes occurs in systems having a front evaporator and a rear evaporator. Once an air conditioner system is shut down, liquid refrigerant migrates to the low pressure side of the refrigerant system as the system equilibrates. Sometimes this liquid refrigerant can migrate to the lines adjacent to the compressor. When the air conditioning system is turned on again, the liquid refrigerant is drawn into the compressor. However, the liquid refrigerant is not compressible. Thus, as the compressor tries to compress this liquid refrigerant, an undesirable noise can emanate from the compressor, which is known as liquid refrigerant slugging. Liquid refrigerant slugging can cause premature wear within the compressor and is an unpleasant noise to hear.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved air conditioning system that minimizes or eliminates liquid refrigerant slugging and/or improves efficiency by providing intercooling between high and low pressure portions. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.